This invention relates to containers and more particularly to clamshell type cartons.
Clamshell type cartons are frequently used in fast food restaurants wherein a hamburger, for example, will be placed in the open carton and the top then closed and latched. One example of such a carton is shown in U.S. Pat. 4,783,832 issued to Forbes. These cartons may be fashioned from a unitary blank of sheet material, such as paperboard or may be molded from a foamed plastic material, or fashioned from two separate blanks, with the blanks being adhesively joined to define a hinge between the top and bottom halves. While exhibiting utility as a temporary container for a food item between the time of its assembly to its delivery to the consumer, such cartons have not exhibited the desirable ease of unlatching. Further, by virtue of often encountered symmetry between the top and bottom carton halves, the consumer does not know which is the top of the container so that, when the latch is undone the sandwich or other food product is upside down.